UPDATE: Alitalia Will Honor Tickets From JFK To Tel Aviv Booked On The Japanese Website For Just $705

On Motzei Shabbos I posted a deal where you can get airline tickets from JFK to Tel Aviv with a stop in Italy through Alitalia’s Japanese website for just $705. On Sunday Alitalia cancelled all those tickets but I guess they changed their mind and are honoring all those tickets bought for $705 🙂 (they will not be honoring tickets people got for free after the coupon code).

And they are extending the 25% off coupon code that can be used on the english site an extra 2 days throug October 28 which can be used to get tickets from Jfk to Tel Aviv with a stop in Italy for just $763.

This is from Alitalia’s Facebook page.

“Thank you for the interest you took in our Facebook Global Offer. Alitalia was the first airline to create a global event of this kind for the Internet community: the most wide-ranging Alitalia promotion ever.

We offered a worldwide 25% discount, with the exception of Japan, where for technical reasons we were forced to create a unique E-Coupon worth 25.000 yen (approximately

250 euro) to be used exclusively for the purchase of flights from Tokyo or Osaka. This redemption rules were clearly stated in the Japanese version of the Facebook offer.

Unfortunately, due to a malfunction, the system did not recognize the limitation of this unique e-coupon to be used only on routes from Japan. As a result, the system erroneously allowed the voucher discount of 25,000 yen to be used on all routes in Alitalia’s global network.

The news spread rapidly online and in a matter of a few hours our Japanese website reported a dramatic surge in visits and purchase requests from several geographical areas.

This unusual occurrence on the Japanese website triggered a security system alert which, considering the high percentage of number of requests at zero cost, froze all transactions. The promotion’s objective was to spur and increase the sale of tickets at a discounted price, and not to issue tickets for free or at a minimal cost.

However, since Alitalia intends to protect clients who have committed a, albeit minimal,amount with their credit card, we confirm the validity of the transactions requested on the Japanese site with a value greater than 1 euro cent. Those clients will soon receive an e-mail with their ticket.

Finally, in consideration of the great success of the promotion, we decided to extend the 25% discount offer for two additional days.”